Wedding bells for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry

Britain’s Prince Harry poses with his fiancée, U.S. actress Meghan Markle, at the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace in London following Monday’s formal announcement of their engagement.
Toby Melville/Reuters

Reuters

It looks like a fairy tale ending for Meghan Markle, the American actress best known for her role in the television legal drama “Suits.”

Ms. Markle and Britain’s Prince Harry announced on Monday they are getting married next year, saying their relationship had blossomed “incredibly quickly” after meeting on a blind date.

Asked when he knew Ms. Markle was “the one,” he replied: “The very first time we met.”

Prince Harry, 33, Queen Elizabeth’s grandson and fifth in line to the British throne, and Ms. Markle, 36, got engaged in London this month and will wed in May at Windsor Palace.

Ms. Markle will become a dual citizen, adding British citizenship to her U.S. citizenship, according to officials.

“The fact that I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly was confirmation to me that all the stars were aligned, everything was just perfect. This beautiful woman just tripped and fell into my life, I fell into her life,” Prince Harry said during the couple’s first broadcast interview.

The queen, who had to give her consent for the union, and her husband Prince Philip were delighted, Buckingham Palace said, while Prince Harry also received the blessing of Ms. Markle’s parents.

“We’re thrilled. I hope they will be very happy indeed,” Prince Charles, the father of the newly betrothed and heir to the British throne, said.

Prince Harry and Ms. Markle, a divorcée, met in July 2016 after they were introduced through a mutual friend, with both knowing little about the other.

“I had never watched ‘Suits,’ I had never heard of Meghan before and I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her. I was like I‘m going to really up my game here,” Prince Harry said.

After just two dates, the couple decided to go on holiday together to Botswana, but it was only months later that the prince, the younger son of Charles and his first wife Princess Diana, publicly confirmed their relationship in a rebuke to the media over its alleged intrusion into Ms. Markle’s private life.

“I did not have any understanding of just what it would be like,” she said. “Both of us were totally surprised by the reaction,” added Prince Harry, who said they had a frank conversation about what she was letting herself in for.

In his office’s warning to the media, Prince Harry referred to the sexism and racism directed at Ms. Markle, whose father is white and her mother, African-American.

“We are incredibly happy for Meghan and Harry. Our daughter has always been a kind and loving person,” Ms. Markle’s parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, said in a statement.

“To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents. We wish them a lifetime of happiness and are very excited for their future together.”

It was not until September that the couple made their first public appearance together at the Invictus Games in Toronto, a sports event for wounded veterans.